About
Jean-Paul Marat was born on May 24, 1743, in Boudry, Switzerland, and was assassinated in Paris on July 13, 1793. After studying medicine in Toulouse and Bordeaux, he practiced in London and received an honorary doctorate from the University of St Andrews in 1775. He then devoted himself to scientific research in optics, electricity, and heat, but his work was rejected by the Academy of Sciences. In 1789, he founded the newspaper 'L'Ami du Peuple', which became a radical platform during the French Revolution. His calls for popular violence and distrust of representatives contributed to the ideology of the Terror. He is immortalized in Jacques-Louis David's painting 'The Death of Marat'.
* 1743-05-24 — † 1793-07-13
Major works
- The Chains of Slavery (1774)political essay
- An Essay on Gleets (1775)medical work
- Plan de législation criminelle (1780)legal treatise
- Recherches physiques sur le feu (1780)scientific work
- L'Ami du Peuple (1789)newspaper
Key milestones
- 1775Receives an honorary doctorate in medicine from the University of St Andrews.
- 1789Founds the revolutionary newspaper 'L'Ami du Peuple'.
- 1793Assassinated by Charlotte Corday in his medicinal bath.
Themes
French RevolutionPolitical violenceMedicineExperimental physicsRadical journalism
Sources: britannica.com · bibliovault.org · pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov